The Decision to Croak.

[Boromir88]

Sorry for the bad title, I just like the word "croak." Anyway, I want to know the significance (if there is any) in Tolkien's characters just deciding to croak? What I mean is, there are characters (that I will get to in a minute) that I guess feel their lives are fulfilled and just decide, "Ok it's time to kick over."

For instance, Aragorn takes the Numenorean "right" in deciding when to die, so he croaks on March 1st 1541.

Then Arwen all depressed goes to Lorien and croaks.

Merry and Pippin go to their respective Kingdoms that they served and spend their last months there and croak.

Sam after his time as mayor is done goes to Aman. Sam at the time I think was approaching 100, which means Frodo (if still alive and I assume so) was around 110. Meaning they would probably croak soon.

So, what's with Tolkien's characters travelling to a place, and then shortly croaking? Have they reached fulfillment in their lives and so they go to their own special place of rest (like Merry to Rohan, Pippin to Gondor, Arwen to Lorien) then shortly after just decide to croak, since they have fulfilled their life? What's the special significance/theme behind this (if there is any that is)? Just seems too coincidental that Tolkien has all these characters go to their own place that means something special to them and soon decide to kick the bucket.

[Alchisiel]

I think the reason Arwen went to Lothlorien to die is that is where she and Aragorn fell in love. It had a lot of memories for her. I think that's the same reason Pippin and Merry went to Gondor/Rohan. There were a lot of memories there for them and they both were very honored "guests" so why not go back there? I think it's the same as when someone dies and is cremated they want their ashes placed in the ocean or placed on a particular piece of land that was special to them.

With Merry and Pippin they might have reached the fullfillment of their lives and so they left the Shire. I don't know. I think with Arwen the sorrow she felt was so great that she didn't want to live anymore. I'm sure there is a special signifigance to it but someone smarter than me will have to figure that out.

Just my thoughts.

[Firefoot]

I don't think it's so much that they all go places so that they can die so much as they go places because they are going to die. (I hope that makes sense.) To go through each of your examples:

Aragorn: by most standards, Aragorn was pretty darn old (more than 200); he was a mortal man and he was going to die; Aragorn recognized this. If you recall, one of the downfalls of the Numenoreans was that they began to start trying to make their lives longer and longer, though this did not work. It was a lot more noble of him to die peacefully and willingly than to try and cling to his last years, slowly becoming a crazy, helpless old man, a shadow of his former self, whereas this way he was "an image of the splendour of the Kings of Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world." I think that you are right that some of it is that he felt his life fulfilled. He was getting too old to do much good to anybody, and he would not be leaving his kingdom helpless; his son was perfectly ready to be king. He was simply ready to die. Aragorn's death is one of my favorite pieces of Tolkien's writing.

As for Arwen, the whole reason she stayed in Middle-earth was because of Aragorn. She certainly wasn't needed in Gondor by anyone; she had no reason left to stick around. So she went to the one place left that held real meaning and comfort to her - Cerin Amroth, where she and Aragorn were engaged. She just didn't have any reason left to live. Her case is one where a character went someplace for the purpose of dying.

In Merry and Pippin's case, I like Alchisiel's comparison of a person wanting to be cremated when they die, though I don't think that's all of it. Like Aragorn, they were getting to be pretty old - anything over a hundred was considered a pretty ripe age for Hobbits - and they were going to be dying soon. Like Aragorn, they weren't really needed anymore, and they probably wanted to see all their other friends one more time and say farewell to them before they died. These other places and people would have meant just as much to them as the Shire and their hobbit friends and relatives.

Sam, of course, was originally quite torn up by Frodo's leaving him, but he went back to the Shire and lived a pretty full life (13 kids, for Pete's sake), but he was getting old, too old to be mayor any more, (notice a theme?), and his Rosie had died. There wasn't anything holding him in the Shire anymore; it was time for him to go to Frodo, his beloved friend and master.

The major theme that I'm seeing here is an acceptance of death and dying; living life to its fullest but not being afraid to let it go when the time comes. It's because of this acceptance that the characters do go places and tie up the loose ends. It shows a certain maturity and nobility in the characters that they do not go on living just for the sake of being alive enough to breathe - and then only to die witless in their beds. There is no point, much less any honor, in dying this way. By accepting their deaths, the characters are able to live their last years happily and die peacefully.

[Guinevere]

I agree with everything Firefoot has said.
(Though I thought it rather hard on Arwen - at the point when Aragorn laid down his life, she wasn't ready to go yet - only after he had died she saw that she couln't go on living on ME without him. Wouldn't it have been better for her to die by his side?)

One other person to take "a last journey" is Gimli !
He was 261 years old when he sailed West with Legolas. (which is about as old as Dwarves get when not prematurely killed, judging by the Line of the Dwarves of Erebor)
And his motive was probably to see Galadriel once more before he died.

btw I was really puzzled by the title of this thread!
(Croak?? I thought that was the sound frogs make... what connection is there with dying?)

[Boromir88]

Some excellent replies so far by everyone :thumbs up:. Just wanted to make one thing more clear...

(Croak?? I thought that was the sound frogs make... what connection is there with dying?)

It's more of a improper slang term. Yes, it's the sound that frogs make. Kind of like a squawk. But it's also a slang term to die/pass away, bite the dust...one of those sayings. (Dictionary.com)

[Lalwendë]

Isn't Death somewhat different for Aragorn compared to other mortals? He is descended from the Numenoreans who originally were given the 'gift' of choosing when to give up their lives - which as a result could be very long; it was when the Numenorean kings started to resent the need to make a choice on when to die that their lives started to become shorter anyway - thus taking the decision to love a long life away from them anyway.

I'm not sure that it says anywhere in the text whether Merry and Pippin had grown physically old by the time they left for the south and their deathbeds - it doesn't even say whether they died at the same time. As far as we know they simply knew they were getting old and so decided to spend their last years elsewhere, eventually to be buried there.

It does seem that Aragorn did remain relatively 'youthful', much as the old Numenorean kings may have done, and like a good king, he did not shirk taking the decision of when it may be the right time to make way for his son. I do find it interesting that while Aragorn fully accepts that he must make this decision and he accepts it with good grace, Arwen finds it much more difficult and lingers for quite some time, as though she can't quite shake off what she had accepted through the long years before meeting Aragorn would be her 'fate' as an Elf.